“We are proud to recognize our former winners during this special season and reflect on the heritage and tradition of the past 50 years,” said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “There are tremendously talented candidates vying to win the 50th Citizen Naismith Trophy and that process starts today.”

This season marks the 50th presentation of the award, which is presented on April 1, 2018 to the player of the year in college basketball. A list of the midseason 30 team will be released on Feb. 14, 2018.

Overall, nine players on the Watch List represent the ACC, while the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC each placed eight candidates. Duke’s four selections were followed by Arizona and USC with three each. Those not making the Watch List are still eligible to be selected for the midseason 30 team.

The No. 1-ranked Blue Devils open the 2017-18 season with back-to-back games Friday and Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke welcomes in-state foe Elon Friday at 7 p.m., followed Saturday with Utah Valley at 7 p.m. Both games can be seen live on ACC Network Extra and heard on the Blue Devil IMG Sports Network.